A Revolution in Communications: Democratization and the Growth of Cyberspace

Today, there are over one billion active users on Facebook. Tweets per day surged from 300,000 in 2008 to 200 million by 2011. Growing accessibility of mobile devices leads to increasing engagement with these media platforms. The surge of Internet, social media, and blog use has had major implications on the spread of information and new forms of communication. These forms of exchange, referred to in Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy as information and communication technologies (ICTs), have empowered private citizens to access more information and also enabled individuals to provide information to the public.

These technologies have also affected the political landscape. Videos on YouTube and “geo-mapping” of electoral fraud are examples of tools that have been used to promote political accountability. We have witnessed how Twitter and Facebook can be used to mobilize the public against oppressive regimes and express sentiments against governments, but did these technologies really affect the outcomes of the Arab Spring? Do they actually promote democracy? In Liberation Technology: Social Media and the Struggle for Democracy, editors Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner question the impact of ICTs on authoritarian regime transition. Has digital media allowed for greater civic mobilization and the overthrow of governments, or has it strengthened authoritarian regimes with the ability to censor information?

Liberation Technology is a collaborative effort of scholars and practitioners. Eleven essays are divided into four categories: Liberation and Control in Cyberspace, Liberation Technology in China, Liberation Technology in the Middle East, and Policy Recommendations. The book’s editors, Diamond and Plattner, are leading scholars in the field of democracy studies and co-editors for the Journal of Democracy. Contributors to Liberation Technology include political scientists, software developers, and leaders in democracy-promotion. While the authors differ in their views about who benefits more from digital ICTs, all believe the Internet should be “universal, open, and essentially free space; and that people should be able to use digital ICTs to report, document, advocate, exchange, and organize peacefully for political change, while having their rights… respected.” Each author promotes Internet freedom and, while recognizing that certain regulations must be in place, opposes government control over this free space.

Liberation and Control in Cyberspace

The title, Liberation Technology, suggests that technology is inherently liberating and promotes freedom and democratic ideals. Yet the Internet, according to Diamond and other contributors, can only liberate individuals insofar as it empowers them to mobilize and promote accountability. This empowerment stems from access to information but without this access, ICTs can suppress individuals and limit personal power. This struggle—one of free Internet versus censorship—leads the discussion about whether ICTs benefit citizens or oppressive leaders more. The first section of the book attempts to explore this relationship and how users apply ICTs.

Diamond jumpstarts this section by introducing the tug-of-war between ICTs as democracy promoters and repression enablers. Citizens, as seen in the cases of Egypt and Tunisia, can use ICTs as tools for mobilization, exposure, transparency, and accountability. On the other hand, as Ronald Deibert and Rafal Rohzinski argue, users are not just employing ICT capabilities for democracy promotion; al-Qaeda has capitalized on the free space to remain connected through its jihadi website networks. A free Internet not only empowers citizens who want to hold their governments accountable, but those who wish to expand their criminal network. This security threat may imply the need for greater monitoring and controls.

Indeed, Deibert expands on the role of censorship in the third essay, but argues that using monitor controls in cyberspace, even if for legitimate security reasons such as to combat terrorism, can easily be transformed into tighter controls with less definite legality. As a principal investigator for OpenNet Inititiave, a monitor of controls in cyberspace, Deibert contends that governments “borrow and share best practices” with other governments and coerce private sector actors to restrict access. He calls for the U.S...